Falling
by CrazyNerdyFangirl
Summary: When you have wings, you don't have to worry about falling off cliffs. That was what Max thought until now. Twenty years post-FANG. One-shot. Kind of depressing. Fax. R & R?


**AN: Um, well, hi. This is my second depressing post-FANG one-shot. I don't know if this fic is scientifically correct or not. I actually highly doubt it is. But whatever. Everything in italics is a flashback.**

Max waited on the cliff. Waiting. For him. Probably contrary to his belief, she hadn't moped around the house waiting for him to come back. No, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She had never found anyone else who even compared to him at all of course, but she had stayed strong for the rest of the flock. She _had_ to. No one had known the pain she had felt inside, not even Dylan. Dylan had become her best friend in place of Fang, but he would never be a part of Max like Fang had. No, no one knew how hurt she had been. She had hid her feelings well. But in time, her heart had hardened. She would be _very, very_ surprised if she was even capable of loving him now.

When—if—Fang showed up, Max didn't know how she would react to him. Would she come running back into his arms like she would have if he had come back during the first few months after he had left? Or would she push him away, which was a very real possibility?

She didn't know what she would do. She would find out when he got here. She sat down and crossed her legs Indian style, hoping that he would get here soon.

* * *

"Fang, you can't go," an insistent voice said. Someone tugged on his black shirtsleeve and he looked back to see his half-sister Miranda looking at him with pleading eyes. He had found her two years after he had left the flock—left Max. Fang had been raiding some existing branches of Itex (they hadn't been destroyed years ago) and helping the mutants there escape. At one of the branches, he had found Miranda, who was two years younger than him. She was also 2% bird and 98% human. Apparently, the bird kids were the only experiments that really succeeded, so the whitecoats had decided to make more of them. After looking through some Itex files, they had found out that they were half-siblings. Miranda looked like a female version of Fang, but with slightly lighter-colored hair. Hers was dark brown while his was pure black.

Miranda and Fang lived in a house in Colorado now with Miranda's fiancé, Jonathan, who was also part bird. Jonathan had been at the same branch of Itex as Miranda. Whenever Fang saw them kissing or cuddling, he was painfully reminded of his past relationship with Max. But he had learned to get used to it—well, he didn't want to vomit every time he saw them together, at least.

Fang had gotten famous from his blog in the years since he had left the flock. Life seemed pretty good—or at least bearable—for Fang, with the obvious exception that Max was still missing from his life. But that was what he had thought until about a week ago.

They had thought that the Erasers were all gone—had been eliminated with the last branch of Itex that the flock had destroyed. But Miranda, Fang, and Jonathan were wrong. Very wrong.

It had been a typical evening for them. Jonathan wasn't home—he was out getting groceries. Fang was watching the news to see if there were any mentions of the flock. Miranda was reading a book. Then suddenly, about 10 Erasers kicked the door down and ran into the room.

"_What the hell?" Fang yelled, not fully comprehending what was happening. He jumped from the couch, where he had been sitting. Miranda dropped her book, and the Erasers turned to her first. _

"_I think I'll kill you first," the lead Eraser said, looking at Miranda and baring his teeth. Fang was proud of Miranda. She tried to keep her terror out of her eyes. _

_Fang stood in front of Miranda instinctively, trying to protect her from harm._

_The leader of the Erasers just smirked. "Oh, look. Fang is defending his little sister," he said sarcastically. He growled._

_Fang and the lead Eraser just glared at each other for a moment. Suddenly, with no warning, the Erasers lunged. They wanted to hurt Miranda, but Fang shielded her with his body. _

_Fang braced himself, waiting for them to hit his body and waited for the pain of their teeth tearing at his skin. But that never came. Instead, Fang felt a syringe being inserted into his left wing. That was the last thing he felt before he blacked out._

Two Days Later

_Fang lay in the hospital bed. The hospital smell made him want to vomit, but he refrained from doing so. He was waiting for the doctor to tell him why he couldn't fly anymore. An hour after the Eraser had inserted the syringe into him, he had woken up. Miranda had told him that the Erasers had left right after Fang had blacked out and had left her alone. Had their only purpose been to inject that syringe into Fang's wing? _

_When Fang had woken up, he had said that he was fine. And in truth, he felt fine. He felt as if there was nothing wrong with him. He felt normal. Maybe whatever chemical that had been in the syringe didn't work on him._

_But there was a difference between _feeling_ fine and _being_ fine._

_The next day, Fang had gone out to fly. He wanted to see if there were any Erasers left in the area. He extended his wings, but then…but then…_

_They froze. His wings had frozen in place and he couldn't move them. There must have been something wrong with the muscles in his wings, he had decided. He couldn't feel them. It was like they were numb. They were useless now. He couldn't fly._

_Miranda and Jonathan had rushed him to the hospital immediately. There were some doctors there who knew about the wings, so they could help him. They had done some tests on him and Fang was waiting to see what they had found out._

_Finally, a doctor came in. One look at his tired, haggard face was all his took for Fang to realize that whatever news he had, it wasn't good._

"_Fang, you might want your sister in here," he doctor said worriedly. Fang winced. What could the bad news be? A nurse was sent to get Miranda and she came in a few minutes later. She nervously brushed her dark hair behind her ears. _

"_Fang, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. You may never be able to fly again," the doctor said, cutting straight to the point. Miranda gasped, but Fang just nodded. He had been able to tell the doctor had bad news, so he wasn't too surprised. Of course, there were a million thoughts flying through his head. His wings had made him who he was for so long. Now, without that…_

"_Actually, there will be times when Fang's wings will work. The syringe had a chemical in it that was injected into Fang. The chemical inside Fang's body has rendered the muscles in Fang's body useless most of the time, but at other times, his wings will work."_

"_So Fang can still fly sometimes?" Miranda asked hopefully._

_The doctor shook his head. "You never know when his wings will stop working. He could be 2,000 feet up in the air when that happens."_

"_And there's nothing you can do to help, is there?" Fang said dejectedly, all hope already lost._

_The doctor sighed. "No, but we don't know if this condition is permanent or if it will pass eventually. For all we know, this may only last another week," he said._

_Fang nodded, but his mind was already elsewhere. A week was too long. That day, Fang walked out of the hospital, knowing that he had lost a little part of himself._

* * *

Max looked at her watch. It was already noon. Where was Fang?

* * *

Fang rolled his eyes at Miranda. "My wings have been working for the past few days." And it was true. The day after Fang had come home from the hospital, he had tried to fly again and found that he could. The muscles in his wings didn't freeze up in those few days. "Maybe whatever chemical was in the syringe only worked temporarily."

"Or maybe it really is permanent and you were only lucky these past few days," Jonathan said, his dark green eyes looking at Fang. Jonathan walked up to Miranda and put an arm around her waist, showing that he agreed with her. Fang wouldn't get any help from him.

"But I have to see her," Fang said, hoping they would understand.

"We can contact the flock later. We can probably get their location from the news. Max will understand." Miranda didn't want Fang to suddenly fall out of the sky when he was flying and die. He was the only relative she knew of.

Fang shook his head vigorously. "She won't forgive me. Ever. I _promised_ her today. I can't break another promise to her."

With those words, Fang walked away from Miranda and toward the window. When he was a few feet away from it, he turned around. "Promise you won't follow me. This is something I have to do alone." With one last look at Miranda and Jonathan, he opened the window and jumped out. He felt the weight of the little black box in his pocket.

Miranda ran to the window to see Fang flying farther and farther away from her. Somehow, she knew something very, very bad was going to happen.

* * *

Max saw a dark figure with wings in the sky. _Finally_, she thought. She stood up to greet him.

Fang's journey here had been quite smooth. His wings hadn't frozen up and he didn't fall and die. Maybe he had worried about not being to fly ever again for nothing.

He landed at the entrance to the cave and peered into the darkness at the back of the cave. "Max?" he said uncertainly. Maybe she wasn't here at all. Maybe she didn't want to see him. Maybe…

A fist suddenly collided with his jaw. Fang staggered back and Max stepped out of the shadows. If he was expecting to see a girl who was broken because her boyfriend had left her, he was wrong. Max looked the way he remembered her—strong and invincible—except now she was older. She also looked incredibly beautiful.

And her eyes were positively livid.

"That was for leaving me, you bastard," she hissed. She approached him menacingly and he backed away. This continued until Fang's feet were dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Max didn't care. If Fang went over the edge, he could definitely fly back up if he wanted to. Max continued to move toward Fang, but he had stopped backing up. Max was slowly closing the distance between them. Soon, there were only a few inches in between them.

"And this is for being here right now," Max whispered. Then she touched her lips to his and wrapped her arms around his waist. Fang held her in his arms and kissed her back as hard as he could. Fang felt something wet on his lips, and with a start, he realized that Max was _crying_.

Suddenly, she pulled away. She turned away from him and tears blurred her vision. She wanted to keep on kissing Fang forever, but she couldn't, just couldn't. "I'm sorry, Fang. I can't do this," she whispered.

"Why not?" Fang inquired softly. He tried to put an arm around her shoulders, but she pulled away.

"Because when you were gone, I felt like a part of me had gone. But slowly, I healed and I wasn't sure that I was still capable of loving you. My heart had practically turned into stone. I didn't want anyone to hurt me ever again." Max paused for a minute. Fang could tell that it was hard for Max to tell him all these things. She looked at Fang. Her eyes were still angry, but Fang detected a hint of…love. "But seeing you here…" Max paused again, as if struggling to say something. "It's making me love you again." She said the last part softly; Fang could barely hear it.

"I love you, Max," Fang said, hoping that Max would believe him.

But Max just shook her head. "I should just go. You're going to leave me again," she mumbled. She turned to fly away, but Fang grabbed her wrist, preventing her from doing so. He turned her so she was facing him, looking directly into his eyes.

"Look at me, Max. I'm not lying. I love you and I will never leave you," he said with conviction. Max looked into those dark eyes of his and could tell that he was sincere.

"Fang…" she whispered, still reluctant to forgive him.

He let go of her wrist and reached into his pocket for something. He pulled out a little black box out of his pocket. Luckily, he didn't get down on one knee—frankly, it would have been ridiculous. Max could only stare at him, frozen in place. "Max, I promise to love you forever. Will you marry me?" he asked. He opened the box and looked at Max hopefully.

Inside the box was the most beautiful ring Max had ever seen. It was simple, but perfect for Max. Max didn't know what to say. Yes or no? Yes or no?

Max was taking so long to answer that Fang thought that maybe she was going to reject him. What if this had been a mistake? Finally, Max nodded. No matter what she did to stop those feelings, she still loved him. Fang showed no emotion as slipped the ring onto her finger. Max turned her hand this way and that, examining the ring. _So now I'm engaged,_ she thought. Fang put a finger under her skin and tilted her face up so that she was looking at him. Then he smiled a full-blown smile that made Max's day brighten considerably.

And he kissed her. This kiss was longer and more passionate than the kiss they had shared earlier. It was bliss. All Max felt were Fang's lips against hers and his hand in her hair. She was crying again, but happy tears this time. She felt whole.

It started raining in the middle of their kiss, but they made no move to get out of the rain. The raindrops mingled with Max's tears and blurred Fang and Max's vision. It signaled the beginning of a new time in their lives. And so they held each other tightly, kissing in the rain.

If only these things could last forever.

Fang disconnected his lips from Max's and looked at his watch. "We should go back to my house," he said. Max nodded.

Fang leaned down so that he could whisper in Max's ear. "We need to start planning our wedding," he said jokingly. Max glared at him.

"But I don't want a big wedding!" she said, laughing. She pushed him away playfully.

That was her first mistake.

They had been so caught up in each other that they hadn't noticed that they were still dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. The cliff was still wet, making it slippery, easy to fall off.

When Max pushed him, Fang lost his balance. He fell over the edge of the cliff.

Max rolled her eyes, waiting for Fang to fly back up.

And that was her second mistake.

It took six hours for her to realize that he wasn't coming back. At the beginning, she had thought that maybe Fang was playing some sort of joke on her. But he wouldn't keep it up for this long. It had stopped raining. She stared over the edge of the cliff. Was Fang down there? Was he dead? Or had he just flown away, leaving her again?

If he had hit the rocks below, she was the one who had killed him.

Strangely, Max felt no tears threatening to escape her eyes. She was numb. Her thoughts were blurry, unclear. She couldn't live without him. What was the point? And maybe, just maybe if she died—and he was dead too—she could find some comfort in knowing that they were both gone from this world. And maybe they would be together. A million thoughts were going through her head, but one thing was clear. She made her decision in less than a second.

If she had really been the cause of Fang's death/disappearance, then this would be her punishment. Though she wasn't sure if this _would be_ a punishment; maybe it would be a blessing to say goodbye to a Fang-less world.

She tucked her wings in and stepped over the edge of the cliff.

The darkness consumed her as she fell over into the warm embrace of her own death.

And the rain began to fall.

**AN: Huh, well that was kind of depressing… No wonder some people call me emo. Believe me, I am far from emo. Very, very far. I thought Fang sounded a bit…Edward Cullen-ish here (not a good thing), but after what he said in his letter to Max, I don't think he's **_**too**_** OOC. **

**Review?**


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